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Accounting & Auditing Update

The "Accounting & Auditing Update" is written by Tammy Whitehouse, a veteran business writer who has been a regular contributor to Compliance Week since 2005. Her work has also appeared in industry journals and periodicals including Journal of Business Strategy, Strategy & Leadership, Compensation & Benefits Review, Inc, Buyside, and myriad others. Whitehouse welcomes questions and comments from readers; she can be reached via e-mail at twhitehouse@complianceweek.com.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
EY holds fast to U.S. audit model; PwC silent
Tammy Whitehouse | February 8, 2019
EY may be taking steps to draw a broader line between audit and consulting services in the U.K., but the U.S. firm has no such plans. Meanwhile, PwC is silent.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Grant Thornton forms audit quality advisory panel
Tammy Whitehouse | February 1, 2019
Grant Thornton is joining the Big 4 in appointing more leadership to its firm governance to drive more focus on audit quality.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
EY forms independent audit quality committee
Tammy Whitehouse | January 24, 2019
EY has joined the rest of the Big Four in seeking independent consult on audit quality, forming a committee of outside experts to advise firm leaders.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Big 4 firms audit fewer companies, analysis shows
Tammy Whitehouse | June 5, 2018
Big 4 firms are performing fewer public company audits as the number of public companies continues to decline, according to Audit Analytics.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Auditors defer more to former colleagues, study suggests
Tammy Whitehouse | February 13, 2018
Auditors will show some deference to judgment calls when the CFO of the client company is an alumni of the audit firm, according to emerging academic research.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Delayed inspection reports will show plateau in audit improvements
Tammy Whitehouse | December 11, 2017
When reports begin to emerge on the latest inspection findings for the major audit firms, they will show no broad, appreciable improvements over the prior year.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
PCAOB sees some improvement, yet room for more
Tammy Whitehouse | August 30, 2017
Based on its latest round of audit inspections in 2017, the PCAOB found some improvement at some firms, but still plenty of work to do to meet standards.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
SEC may relieve certain entities from revenue, lease adoption dates
Tammy Whitehouse | August 4, 2017
Big 4 firms say the SEC won’t object if certain “public business entities” adopt new revenue and leasing rules under private company effective dates.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
BDO 2015 report shows more restatements, withdrawn opinions
Tammy Whitehouse | April 25, 2017
Roughly half the audits inspected at BDO USA contained deficiencies in 2015, several serious enough to result in restatements and withdrawn ICFR opinions.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Regulators globally say 42 percent of audits are deficient
Tammy Whitehouse | April 7, 2017
Audit quality is an even bigger concern outside the United States, where inspectors spot deficiencies at major network firms in 42 percent of the audits they check.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Audit change data shows differences at Big 4 firms
Tammy Whitehouse | February 17, 2017
In the churn for new auditors, one Big 4 firm has held steady with its net number of audit clients while three others have seen net losses numbering in the 20s. Tammy Whitehouse has the results of the latest data from Audit Analytics.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
EY Indonesia firm settles $1 million action with PCAOB
Tammy Whitehouse | February 10, 2017
U.S. audit regulators have settled a $1 million action with an EY affiliate in Indonesia over allegations of audit failure and noncooperation.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Grant Thornton shows gains in PCAOB 2014 inspection report
Tammy Whitehouse | August 31, 2016
The PCAOB has published its last 2014 inspection report on the eight largest firms, showing gains at Grant Thornton from a year prior and slight improvement across major firms. Tammy Whitehouse reports.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Big 4 polls say companies are stalled on big accounting changes
Tammy Whitehouse | June 15, 2016
More Big 4 surveys on big accounting changes suggest companies are starting to face a kind of paralysis over how to move forward and make it all work. On revenue recognition a recent KPMG poll suggests the vast majority of companies are still trying to digest how it will affect them. On lease accounting, three polls suggest companies are wringing their hands over how they will comply.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Study: Where Audits Go Awry, Internal Control Audit Is Faulty, Too
Tammy Whitehouse | January 28, 2016
Big 4 firms exhibited problems in 35 percent of all audit engagements inspected in 2014, and a whopping 84 percent of those deficient audits involved problems with internal control over financial reporting, according to an analysis by Dan Goelzer, a former member and acting chair of the PCAOB. The analysis shows the board found fault with slightly fewer Big 4 engagements in 2014 compared with 2013, but the share that involved problems with the internal control audit was even higher at 89 percent.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Inspection Results Vary Even Within Global Networks
Tammy Whitehouse | November 19, 2015
Global affiliates of the six largest accounting firms turn in strikingly different inspection results compared with their U.S. affiliates. PCAOB research shows. Deloitte U.S., for example, has been reducing the rate of deficiencies in its inspections from 2011 through 2013, but Deloitte’s global affiliates have turned in much higher rates. PCAOB member Lewis Ferguson cautions, “It would be a mistake to presume that an audit firm’s inspection results in the United States necessarily speak to the quality of its global network.” Details inside.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Big 4 Lose Audits to Smaller Firms in 2014, Data Shows
Tammy Whitehouse | March 17, 2015
Big 4 firms lost a combined 64 public company audit engagements in 2014 as second-tier national firms snatched up a combined 58 new clients, according to Audit Analytics. The company’s annual summary of auditor changes says KPMG is the only Big 4 firm to win more new engagements than it lost in 2014. More inside.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
SEC Ends Standoff With Big 4 China Affiliates for $2 Million
Tammy Whitehouse | February 7, 2015
The SEC has settled its action against Big 4 affiliates in China that had stymied investigations into possible accounting fraud by refusing to hand over audit work papers. The SEC fined each of the Big 4 affiliates $500,000 while acknowledging that the firms eventually began providing documents.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
SEC Agrees to Hear China Group’s Appeal on Audit Firm Ban
Tammy Whitehouse | August 5, 2014
The SEC has agreed to hear arguments from a group of Chinese businesses to reconsider its six-month ban on China-based audit firms. Zhongguancun Listed Companies Association, a newly formed association of publicly listed companies with operations in China, filed an amicus brief to address “broad-based policy interests” arising from the planned ban on China-based audit firms for refusing to produce work papers. More inside.
Displaying 19 results